Hamilton: Rosberg said clash was deliberate

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg admitted to deliberately causing the clash between the two that resulted in Hamilton retiring from the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Rosberg made contact on the second lap at Les Combes after Rosberg left the nose of his car on the inside of Hamilton's as the corner switched back. The incident caused a puncture on Hamilton's car, damaging the floor and eventually forcing him to retire.

Senior management and the drivers met after the race and Hamilton said Rosberg had admitted to causing the accident on purpose to prove a point.

"It looked quite clear to me but we just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose," he said. "He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it. He said 'I did it to prove a point', he basically said 'I did it to prove a point'. And you don't have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto [Wolff], Paddy [Lowe] and all those guys who are not happy with him as well.

"I was gobsmacked when I was listening to the meeting. You need to ask him what point he was trying to make."

Hamilton said Rosberg had even tried to blame him initially.

"He just came in there and said it was all my fault. Just came in there..."

The incident came after a team meeting on Thursday that was held to clear the air following the team orders incident in Hungary. Hamilton said he was not sure what had caused Rosberg's actions or what will happen now.

"I can't imagine what the team would do now. We came in to this weekend and I came with a really positive mind thought. I really was excited … we've got eight races and we're close - there's only 11 points in it - and I thought it was going to be good for all of us. Good racing, I thought this was going to be a track that was going to be exciting.

"It's interesting because we had that meeting on Thursday and Nico expressed how angry he was - I was thinking 'It's been three weeks and you've been lingering?!' He expressed how angry he was, he literally sat there and said how angry he was at Toto and Paddy. But I thought we should be good after that and then this result … it's interesting."

Rosberg, who was speaking to the press at the same time as Hamilton, maintained that he saw the event as a racing incident.

"I have seen it and I don't want to say what it definitely is," Rosberg said. "The stewards' judged it as a racing incident and that's the way that one can describe it."

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